Assessing climate change adaptation progress in Canada's protected areas

Abstract

Climate change represents a new era for protected areas and biodiversity conservation. With the redistribution of species and unparalleled declines in biodiversity, business-as-usual practices are unlikely to be effective. Despite progress on many facets of establishing, protecting, and managing protected areas over the past century, some of which may help to lessen or slow the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, more targeted efforts need to be developed and implemented to address growing climate challenges. To assess progress on climate change adaptation, a survey was distributed to provincial, territorial, and federal governments as well as environmental non-governmental organizations working in conservation in Canada (n = 49). Findings indicate that little progress has been made on adaptation in Canada's protected areas sector over the past decade, despite greater certainty about the impacts of climate change. Differences in monitoring, adaptation strategies, and key barriers exist across organizations. Importantly, the majority of organizations continue to report they lack capacity to address climate change issues affecting protected areas and face persistent barriers to implementing adaptation strategies. Recommendations to increase adaptation include enhancing knowledge mobilization, implementing a national adaptation strategy, and developing more flexible conservation objectives.